CURRICULUM VITAE - DR ROGER MW MUSSON

DATE OF BIRTH       2 October 1953

NATIONALITY          British

EMPLOYER               seismologi.st Ltd
                                    Seismic Hazard Consultancy, Edinburgh

PREVIOUS POST     Principal Seismologist
Head of Seismic Hazards and Archives
British Geological Survey

QUALIFICATIONS     

1975 BSc (Hons) 2.1 Geography, Queen's University Belfast
1979 PhD Geography, Edinburgh University
2001 Chartered Geologist
2004 Chartered Scientist

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

British Geophysical Association (Secretary) 1998-2003
ESC Working Group on the Updating of the MSK Intensity Scale (Secretary) 1992-1998
ESC Working Group on Macroseismology (Chairman) 1996-2002, 2008-2012
ESC Subcommission F on Engineering Seismology (Chairman) 2002-2006
Fellow of the Geological Society of London 1996-
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society 1996-
IAPSEI Working Group on the Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice (Co-chairman) 1997-2001
IAPSEI Working Group on Seismological Archives (Chairman) 2003-2009
Member of GSHAP Panel of Experts for Region 3 1995-1998
Member of the Seismological Society of America 1996-
Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute 1998-
Member of the American Geophysical Union 2002-
Member of the European Earthquake Engineering Association 2004-

EDITORIAL POSITIONS

Journal of Seismology, Editorial Board 2003-
Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, Editorial Board 2007-
Natural Hazards, Editorial Board 2010-

MAIN CAREER EXPERIENCE

2014 -              Private consultant on seismic hazard and historical seismology, mostly for nuclear-related PSHA projects; trading as seismologi.st Ltd.

1980 - 2014     Seismologist with British Geological Survey, formerly Institute of Geological Sciences.

Worked initially on general UK seismic hazard and historical earthquake archives. Took charge of Hazard and Archives Section of Global Seismology Research Group in 1988.

Historical seismology:

Extensive work on a major study of historical earthquakes in UK for Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, 1981-1984. Thereafter continued research into historical earthquakes in UK; author of principal catalogue of historical earthquakes in the UK (1994). Also completed first ever assessment of historical seismicity of the Faroes, and involved in historical earthquake research in other countries, e.g. South China as part of major study on seismotectonics of Hong Kong funded by Geotechnical Engineering Office, Hong Kong, also Spain, India and elsewhere. Joint editor of the Monograph Series "Historical earthquakes in Central Europe" for Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna.

Seismic hazard:

Conducted seismic hazard assessment studies for many customers and places: customers include engineering firms, petroleum industry, government and insurance sectors both in the UK and overseas, and regions worked include UK, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and others.

Project manager for several UK seismic hazard projects related to Nuclear industry, including site seismic hazard study for Chapelcross (in partnership with Halcrows, for British Nuclear Fuels). Main author of tender document for Nepalese Seismic Design Code in project funded by UNCHS (Habitat). Member of the Steering Panel for the Department of the Environment project on Seismic Risk in the UK. Member of the ESC Working Group on Seismic Hazard. Principal investigator for three major UK seismic hazard mapping studies, for UK Continental Shelf (in collaboration with Ove Arup) for Health and Safety Executive, for mainland UK (in collaboration with AEA Consultancy Services) for Department of Trade and Industry, and revised national hazard maps in support of the UK implementation of Eurocode 8. Project leader for national seismic hazard mapping project for UAE. Participant in regional studies of seismic hazard (UK, Balkans) as part of Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Project (GSHAP) in collaboration with GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam. Participant in various other international scientific projects, e.g. Circum Pannonian Basin Seismic Hazard, Basic European Earthquake Catalogue and Database, NERIES, SHARE etc. Experience in SSHAC PSHA projects: TI team in PEGASOS (SSHAC L4) project, Switzerland; PPRP member in Thyspunt (SSHAC L3) project, South Africa. Member of Senior Hazard Analysis Review Panel for SIGMA project, France. Project leader for national seismic hazard maps for UK and UAE. Member of ODA-sponsored fact-finding mission to Accra, Ghana, for International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) risk assessment project.

Author of several computer programs for display and analysis of earthquake data now in international use (e.g. Wizmap earthquake GIS and analysis package), and seismic hazard and risk assessment software, including M3C multi-feature seismic hazard analysis program using Monte Carlo simulation approach. Active in development of new methodology for seismic hazard and risk assessment, pioneer in development of formal evaluation techniques and use of simulation for PSHA.

Macroseismology:

Responsible for macroseismic surveys and intensity analysis of British earthquakes since 1985. Secretary of the European Seismological Commission Working Group on the revision of the MSK intensity scale, and associate editor and joint author of the European Macroseismic Scale, which is currently the definitive modern intensity scale for international use. As Chairman of the ESC Working Group Macroseismology, responsible for encouraging international research and collaboration in macroseismology; author of the chapter on intensity and intensity scales in the New Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice, and joint author of the macroseismology chapter in the IASPEI Centenary Handbook on Seismology. Active in developing methodology for automatic assessment of intensity from internet data.

Archives:

Supervised formation of the National Seismological Archive funded by a consortium led by the Department of the Environment. Consultant on seismological archives to Centre Sismologique Euro-Méditerranéen (CSEM). Chairman of the IASPEI Working Group on Seismological Archives.

Over 200 publications, mostly on seismic hazard, historical earthquakes and macroseismology.